23rd Oct 2013 07:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - Computacenter PLC Wednesday said that it expects full-year results in line with expectations and remained bullish about its future outlook, even as it cautioned that group results were being held back by its performance in France.
Computacenter said its revenue for the third quarter had increased 11% to GBP730 million from GBP657 million in the previous year.
French revenues declined by 9% due to a weaker market than the company's other major territories, and a insufficiently well-developed services business that can't yet compensate for downturns in supply-chain revenue. A major customer reduced its spend, Computacenter said without naming the customer. Computacenter warned that improving performance in France would not be easy, but it intends to implement an operating model by the end of the year and some local management changes.
In the UK, revenue grew 13% to GBP299 million from GBP265 million in the previous year. UK business has benefited from contract wins over the last few years, the company said, and the need from customers to upgrade their operating systems.
In Germany, revenue increased 17% to GBP321 million from GBP274 million in the previous year. Services revenue grew by 10% in the third quarter, and the company said that, although it had seen some margin improvement and a promising pipeline, this growth would be challenging in the first half of next year as a major contract will reduce significantly in size.
In regards to three other "onerous" contracts in Germany, Computacenter said that trading was in line with expectations.
The company said that the fourth quarter was its most important, and that it entered it with momentum and growth in its two major markets, UK and Germany. It expects its current pipeline to have a positive impact in 2015, although it expects growth to be a little quieter next year in its Contractual Services division.
Shares in the information-technology services company were trading up 10.6% at 543.00 pence Wednesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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